Some remarks on the dS conjecture, fluxes and K-theory in IIB toroidal compactifications

Abstract: In this note, we present a scenario in which the existence of dS vacua is jeopardized by topological transitions between non-BPS branes and fluxes in type IIB toroidal compactifications. We focus our study on a six-dimensional torus compactification modded out by an orientifold three-plane. In particular, we consider the presence of non-BPS five branes, which allows the construction of apparent stable dS vacua. Since moduli stabilization requires the presence of NS-NS fluxes, we also describe the minimal required conditions to avoid the appearance of Freed-Witten anomalies. Cancellation of these anomalies implies a topological transformation between non-BPS states and fluxes with the same discrete K- theory charge. After the transition, we observe that the scalar potential undergoes major changes, implying that the dS vacua are unstable. We discuss a scenario in which, even if the discrete K-theory charge is globally cancelled, the above transitions could still be relevant, allowing the existence of short-lived dS minima. We briefly comment on how these implications seem to be in concordance with the Refined de Sitter and Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjectures.